Federal Election 2019: Jessica Whelan says she can still win the Tasmanian seat of Lyons

Disendorsed Liberal Lyons candidate Jessica Whelan says she is horrified by her social media post which led her to leave the party.

DISENDORSED Liberal Lyons candidate Jessica Whelan says she is horrified by her social media post which led her to leave the party.

The Brighton councillor was dropped by the party after Islamophobic comments she made on social media were revealed by the Mercury.

Speaking on the Tasmania Talks radio program with Brian Carlton, Ms Whelan said she had no choice but to acknowledge the bulk of the posts were hers, but said she was not proud of their contents.

“I have to, they’re my posts, I have to stand by them. Am I proud of them? No. I’m horrified that two or three years ago I felt the need to say those things and I apologise, I apologise to everyone those posts may have offended.”

However she denied she was an extremist.

“I’m not an extremist, I have very strong views and a lot of Australians share those views.

“I don’t have issues with Muslims. I’ve admitted some of those posts are mine, I’ve only seen snapshots of those posts in the media, I haven’t seen the whole context.

“I can honestly say that in the past – two or three years ago – I have made some anti-Islamic posts, I will admit to that.

“Do I have an issue with Muslims? No, I don’t.

“But I do have a very strong opinion on border security and immigration numbers. There are a lot of politicians not willing to voice their opinions on this matter.”

Liberal Candidate for Lyons Jessica Whelan at the Agfest. Picture: AAP

Ms Whelan said she was still in the race as an independent.

“The internal polling that we had conducted suggested that the polls were extremely tight and I was in a position where I could win the seat,” she said.

“And I think despite what’s happened I could still win the seat of the Lyons as an independent.

“I still have support throughout Lyons.

“Despite the death threats, I have literally thousands of emails, text messages, phone calls and voicemails saying ‘you have my number 1 vote, thank you’.”

Ms Whelan said she had received death threats and threats against her children, which she had reported to Tasmania Police. She said she was making a further complaint to the Australian Federal Police.

She apologised for the posts.

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Ms Whelan said she had a technician helping her try to establish the source of one particularly comment — which called for women who supported Islam to be mutilated — which she denied writing.